The 2009–10 Croatian First Football League (officially known as the T-Com Prva HNL for sponsorship reasons) was the nineteenth season of the

Croatian First Football League The Hrvatska nogometna liga (; ), abbreviated as HNL and also known for sponsorship reasons as the SuperSport HNL, is a professional association football league in Croatia and the highest level of the Croatian football league system. Establishe ...

, the national championship for men's

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

teams in

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, since its establishment in 1992. It began on 24 July 2009 and ended on 13 May 2010.

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

were the defending champions, having won their eleventh championship title (and fourth consecutive title) the previous season, and they defended the title again, after a goalless draw with

Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, the club's home ...

on 1 May 2010. The format was changed from previous season in that the league was expanded from 12 to 16 clubs.

Promotion and relegation from 2008–09

Due to the expansion, no teams were directly relegated following the 2008–09 season. Four teams from 2008–09 Druga HNL earned direct promotion. These were champions Istra 1961, runners-up

Karlovac Karlovac () is a city in central Croatia. In the 2021 census, its population was 49,377. Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County. The city is located southwest of Zagreb and northeast of Rijeka, and is connected to them via the ...

, third-placed Lokomotiva and fifth-placed Međimurje. Fourth-placed team Slavonac CO had to step back from promotion after they were not able to find a suitable ground.

Croatia Sesvete NK Croatia Sesvete was a Croatian football club based in the Sesvete district of the City of Zagreb. Previous club names: NK Sljeme (1957–1988), NK Sesvete (1988–1996), NK Badel Sesvete (1996–1997), NK Sesvete (1997–1998). The club was ...

as last-placed team had to compete in a two-legged play-off against the sixth-placed team from Druga HNL, Hrvatski Dragovoljac. After a scoreless first leg, Croatia Sesvete retained their Prva HNL status by winning the second leg, 2–1.

Overview

Teams

Stadia and locations

Since most Druga HNL stadiums failed to meet the licensing requirements for top-level football, the

Croatian Football Federation The Croatian Football Federation (, HNS) is the national governing body of football in Croatia. It was originally formed in 1912 and is based in the capital city of Zagreb. The organisation is a member of both FIFA and UEFA, and is responsible f ...

announced on 8 May 2008 that clubs who are likely to win promotion berths have agreed to lease stadiums approved for top-flight football. Below is the list of all the stadiums which are licensed to be used in the Prva HNL, along with their home clubs and the promoted clubs who secured rights to use them as "guests" until their own grounds have sufficiently been upgraded to host top-level matches.

Managerial changes

League table

Results

Top goalscorers

''As of 13 May 2010; Source
HRnogomet.com
'

Transfers

* List of Croatian football transfers summer 2009 * List of Croatian football transfers winter 2009–10

References

External links

Season statistics at HRNogomet

Official website

Prva HNL
at

UEFA.com The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

2009–10 in Croatian Football
at

Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:2009-10 Prva HNL Croatian Football League seasons Cro 1